Posts by fung0

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Re: 'Taint gonna work...

Eyeo - creators of Ad-block Plus - guesstimate the advertising value of a regular visitor as being on the order of 1 Euro per month. Would you donate that much to, say, your dozen favorite sites? I know I would. Especially knowing that it would help increase their independence from corporate support, and reduce the need for intrusive user tracking in general.

Choices

Many sites would love to reduce or eliminate their dependence on ads. This includes most 'magazine' sites, which always have to worry about losing their objectivity - or being accused of losing it - based on the revenue they get from the very companies they need to cover.

Also, don't forget that ad-blocking will keep sites honest. Taking ad revenue and Brave revenue isn't one of the options - the choice is between taking zero ad revenue from blocked ads vs taking what Brave can collect. Many sites will embrace this, and offer ad-free browsing to Brave (or other solutions) that provide them with similar (or better) revenue.

I predict this model will catch on quickly. However, I'm not willing to change my browser to do it. I think Flattr Plus is a better approach - an add-in to whatever you're already using. I expect there will be other choices very soon.

Re: So what's the difference...

What's different is that with a typical 'protection racket' you don't have a choice. In the case of Brave, your payments are voluntary. For many users, that's preferable to being traced and infected by ads.

I'm on a tight budget, but I've sent donations to a few of my favorite sites. If that process could become easy and automatic, I'd do it even more.

Re: @Windows 10

Re: Microsoft continues to destroy the PC

d3vy:"Get a grip."

It's clearly an exaggeration to say it's all Microsoft's fault. What is certainly true, though, is that Microsoft has failed to give anyone a reason to want a newer PC. Windows 10 doesn't let you do anything that you can't on Windows XP.

But what's truly ironic is that in attempting to force everyone onto a single version of Windows, Microsoft has smeared out the number of versions even further. Windows 10 has failed to accelerate the decline of Windows XP. Windows 7 - by most benchmarks - remains the most popular OS in the world. Windows 8.x is declining, but not so much that it can be ignored any time soon. Even Windows Phone was not fully replaced by Windows 10, further splitting a mobile market that was already minuscule to begin with.

Altering the hardware will worsen this situation still further. We'll see a continued demand for older CPU generations, as well as a growth of fixes and hacks to support older versions of Windows on newer chips. Because it's the continuity that people are addicted to, not Windows as such. And newer versions of Windows fail to offer any advantage that would compensate for a reduction in that continuity.

Re: Bloat

What you forget is that the only real value of Windows over any other OS is exactly that bloat - the ability to run 'legacy' applications from 10 and 20 years ago.

Windows is simply not special in any other way. It's not as flexible, or secure, or manageable as Linux. If I didn't care about running my old Win32 software, I'd be 100% on Linux by tomorrow morning. And so would everyone else.

Re: Mysterious World

Toltec:" I rate Jack Vance, Larry Niven, Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny more highly, to name a few."

I enjoyed Larry Niven's work a lot when it first came out - and continue to revere his short stories. However, I recently tried re-reading Ringworld, and was astounded to realize that it's not just bad, it's absolutely dreadful. Shallow characters, ludicrous plotting, very few interesting ideas or concepts. Shows how mere novelty can cause something to seem better than it really is.

But at least authors like Niven and Zelazny were trying to be entertaining. (And succeeding at least some of the time.) These days, a lot of award-winning SF has too many objectives other than entertaining the reader. With endless pages of verbiage where a single sentence would be sufficient, these books are just way too much work to read. And their Big Ideas tend to be far too small to justify the effort.

Another big chunk of SF is really just fantasy set in space, with endless soap-opera plots and no real point. Frank Herbert was a prime offender. Dune is a great work of SF, but the sequels are just progressively weaker fantasy. That model has become dominant. I shudder whenever I see a new book subtitled "Part One of an Epic New Series." Why don't you see if you can come up with one decent book, before you try to sell me several more? Might as well head over to the Perry Rhodan section...

Re: I have a Kindle paperwhite and have NOT had any computer problems

This can't be repeated too often: anyone who's still afraid of Linux, still mired in the propaganda about how "it's not ready for Prime Time," needs to realize that Linux is already far easier to deal with than Windows.

Linux installs in minutes, not hours. It's free of all the nags and crapware and DRM. It has built-in support for an astounding range of devices, and it doesn't break when you update it (at your convenience, not some idiot's halfway round the world). It Just Works. What's more, the UI - depending on which one you choose and how you configure it - can easily be more like Windows than Windows itself. For example, Mint's MATE UI comes with an alternate 'Start' menu that mimics the beautifully simple hierarchical menu of pre-XP Windows. You don't need 'extras' like Classic Desktop, because the desktop is already 'classic' in ways Windows has forgotten about.

No, Linux can't take over every task from Windows. But it can take over a great many of them (e.g. Calibre for e-books) - and the ones it does take over tend to work easier and better than on Windows. Not everyone gets this yet. I was at a Linux developer conference this week, and as far as I could tell by peeking over people's shoulders, I was the only one carrying a Linux device.

I've been a Windows lover since version 3.0. Today I run Linux on two portables, Windows on my main desktop. More and more, I look forward to using the portables, and dread returning to Windows.

Re: I remember @AC

Peter Gathercole:"...you have a fighting chance of getting it working without having to find another machine and start mucking about with USB memory sticks to copy the driver to re-install."

Thanks for the explanation of how this works in Linux.

I've been very impressed by the ability of Linux Mint to support my mutant former ChromeBook. With Mint 17.1, the trackpad worked, and even the touch-screen worked. Better yet, each succeeding version of Mint makes more stuff work, not less. With Mint 18, a few glitches went away, and my Wi-Fi became much more reliable. I bought a USB-to-Ethernet dongle that only specifies Win and Mac drivers, but it plugged and played without hesitation.

Microsoft has trained us to believe that Updates Always Break Stuff. But it seems that this axiom is not actually hardwired into the fabric of the universe.

Cunning Stunts

If Microsoft could have pulled this off with Win32 applications, it would have been truly impressive. Doing it with a whole brand-new type of app - essentially, with a whole new OS (UWP) - is neither impressive nor particularly useful. It's just a stunt.

Compare what Google is doing with Android N. With expanded mouse-and-keyboard support, and the ability to display multiple apps simultaneously, Android will soon be able to do what Continuum promises. But it will be bringing along the entire gargantuan galaxy of existing Android apps. Hence, much more than just a stunt.

Bottom line: Google is steadily expanding the reach of Android, increasing flexibility in device support. Whereas by pushing a whole new type of app (ironically named "universal"), Microsoft has decreased flexibility and user choice.

Re: Disk 1 of 2079?

My first experience of Windows was running version 1.0 on a dual 5.25-inch floppy-drive PC (not XT) clone. I can't recall exactly, but it was something like 6 or 10 swaps, maybe more, just to boot to the desktop. But Reversi made it all worthwhile!

Re: MS made me download software...

Charles 9:"'"Is the software that you are using the only possible thing that you can use?'

For many, YES IT IS. Well, either that or the alternative is such a pain to work with as to be impractical."

That's a very negative exaggeration. The alternatives exist, at varying stages of usability. It won't be all that long before we'll start to see superior alternatives on Linux. (I'm sure Mac users will tell you they already exist on that platform.)

* The Steam Linux library is growing fast. Developers are 'crossing over' in large numbers. Have a little patience. Rome wasn't built in a day - and neither was Windows. (Last year's games are always somewhat disposable, anyway. What matters are next year's hits...)

* For graphics, the GIMP is poised to overtake Photoshop within the next couple of years. Also, Creative Cloud is a pain in the butt, while GIMP and InkScape offer an escape from that kind of stupidity. RawTherapee and darktable give away very little to Lightroom. Bear in mind, also, that the Linux equivalents I mention are all free (as in both speech and beer).

* LibreOffice can't replace MS Office for every task, nor be 100% file compatible with it, but it's pretty obvious that LO is improving steadily, while MS Office looks worse with each new release, buckling under the conflicting marketing imperatives being dumped on it. (BTW: "editors" don't want Word files, they want plain un-formatted text - which you can create using anything from VI to your old CP/M copy of WordStar.)

* Firefox and Thunderbird are already identical on every OS. They may not be everyone's choice for Web and email, but they show how easy this transition can be.

Bottom line, yes, there's still work to be done. Or, to put it another way, there's still boundless opportunity for enterprising software developers - something that's been sorely lacking for a decade or more, under the MS monoculture.

Re: That EFF document is a solid gold reference

Charles 9:"It's called a Captive Market. Where are people going to go when the business software, games, and so on, run on only one operating system? It's hard to jump ship when there's no life preservers and no other ships handy to pick you up."

This is exactly why the EFF report is so important. MS needs to be called out on its offenses, as publicly as possible. This has two benefits: a) it increases the (admittedly slight) chances that MS might modify its tactics for the better; and b) it helps mobilize and prepare the public for a change it doesn't t yet realize would be extremely positive.

At the same time, it's important for expert users to build those 'life preservers' or 'other ships' to pick up where MS sank to the bottom. The technical problems are all solved. All that remains is a PR battle. We need to: a) use Linux; b) tell people we use Linux; and c) help people understand just how easy the transition can be. We also need to support the many ongoing efforts to make Linux more approachable, more of a complete replacement for Windows. Valve's SteamOS, for example: it has a long, hard climb ahead of it, but (unlike Windows) is headed very much in the right direction.

It takes a lot of effort to turn something the size of the global computer market, but it has happened multiple times already. (Otherwise, I'd be typing this on a 64-bit CP/M machine.) Like everyone else, I was a happy Windows user, until Microsoft demonstrated unequivocally that it wasn't competent to be the standard-bearer any more. Now it's too late, the change is coming - might as well help it along.

Re: That EFF document is a solid gold reference

AC:"For a long time MS have had the gamer market sewn up due to DirectX only being available for Windows. Microsoft are continuing to push their DirectX technology through the Xbox one, and Windows 10, but that may not be enough any more. Sony and Valve are pushing Vulkan instead, and increasingly importantly Vulkan works on Android too."

It's interesting to note that the biggest PC game release of the year (so far, anyway) - No Man's Sky - uses OpenGL, not DirectX. I guess Hello Games didn't care about cross-compatibility with a distant runner-up in the console wars. There's lots of room for complaint regarding the gameplay in NMS, or the lack of QA, but the choice of OpenGL is very telling nonetheless.

Re: I do occasionaly visit Face Book.

I've received numerous email invitations to FB pages from public-spirited organizations, including major environmental groups - and even some privacy-focused 'civil liberties' groups! (They also use commercial mailing services, coded tracking links, and every other dirty trick you can imagine.)

I usually respond by pointing out that there's more than one fight going on. It's great that they want to clean up our Planet Earth ecosystem, but that's no reason they should be helping pollute the online ecosystem. I add that there are plenty of free, open and privacy-respecting alternatives.

Re: When will people learn...

Re: Back to reality for a moment........

David Roberts:"Dedicated Commentards may well pay a subscription to El Reg; I would. However there is a limit to how much I am prepared to pay per month for Internet content."

AdBlock guesstimates that a regular visitor (like a Reg reader) is worth about 1 Euro per month in ad revenue. The amount would be higher for services like FaceBook.

Would I pay that much to the handful of sites I use heavily? You bet! (In fact, I've already sent contributions to a few.) The one caveat: it has to be easy. But there are schemes in place for this, like Flatter. The Reg could lead the way, run it as an experiment.

The ad industry's greatest success has been in convincing us that ads are necessary, even inevitable. They're not. And business models do change. Cars threw blacksmiths out of work, and the Internet has shut down a lot of newspapers. Now it's the ad parasites' turn.

Social Contact

lorisarvendu:"Insulting people who use a site for social contact by posting on a forum which is also used for social contact. The irony of the human race."

The real problem here is that an essential service - "social contact" - has been privatized and monopolized. As Max Schremm has pointed out, it's as if the telephone were controlled by a single global monopoly.

What we need to do - urgently - is to declare 'social media' to be an 'essential service,' and therefore subject to open standards. Then, say, Google, could offer it's own FacePalm site, which would differ from Google+ in that it could freely exchange posts with FaceBook (or any other 'social media' service). Users would then have a proper choice. They might pick a paid service, for instance, and see no ads.

Until that happens, consumers turn to companies that can only partially compete - like AdBlock, which offers to take over security and usability, on which FB is clearly failing. Fortunately, the same legal freedom that created the FaceBook monopoly in the first place now protects those new companies' ability to nibble away at it.

The Way Forward

VinceH:"With you on the no information to advertisers - but ads I'm fine with provided they meet certain criteria..."

Funny thing: if FB were willing to commit to a few of those criteria, AdBlock would whitelist them and the whole battle would just go away. In fact, most users wouldn't be turning to ad-blockers at all, if the ad ecosystem hadn't been allowed to become a polluted mess.

Guys like Zuck like to call AdBlock "extortion," but AdBlock whitelists are first and foremost based on "Acceptable Ad" criteria. Whether Eyeo (the publishers of AdBlock) would demand some extra payment from a behemoth like FaceBook once it had met the Acceptable Ad criteria is something we may never know, since those (entirely reasonable) criteria have never been met, and likely never will be. FB may verbally disparage obnoxious ads, but they won't willingly give up the option of profiting from them.

That unrestrained greed is the root of their problem.

Much smarter, for FB and other services, would have been to embrace AdBlock, and realize that this company was offering to provide them with a valuable service. The quickest way to clean up the ad sewer would be to work with a third party like AdBlock (or others, given that the filters themselves are in an open format). Ultimately, someone will have to take on the task of vetting the ad stream. Users can never trust FB (or its ilk) to do it - there's just too much of a built-in conflict of self-interest.

My prediction: it will happen.

We'll first see major sites embracing some sort of Code of Standards, which will in essence be the AdBlock whitelist, but under their control. This will fail to deliver, and users will continue to subscribe to third-party whitelists. Then, finally, the big Internet players will realize that they need an impartial watchdog even more than their users do.

The Logic of Self-Interest

Doctor Syntax:"The money is in it for the advertising industry for showing the ads. If they really wanted to do something for the advertisers' profits they'd follow the following line of reasoning..."

I once spoke to a spammer on the phone - back when they were stupid enough to put a phone number in their email promotions. He literally screamed at me (from his poolside deck-chair in Florida) about his absolute legal and moral right to bombard me with adverts for penis-enlargement products.

The online ad industry today feels at least as entitled as that guy did. Check this article from the CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the big online-advertising trade group:

The author refers to ad-blocking as "robbery, plain and simple," and an "unethical" "extortionist scheme." And (oblivious to irony) he compares those promoting ad-blocking to gangster Tony Soprano. We, the consumers, clearly do not have the right to control what we see, on our own hardware, via our own Internet connection, if said control interferes in any way with the advertising revenue stream.

The online advertising industry truly is laboring under the delusion that they provide an indispensable service - as opposed to enjoying a pot of gold provided purely by an accident of history and contorted capitalist economics. When confronted by ad blocking, they rant and rave much like the content companies do about piracy - forgetting that content is something that consumers actually want. Warmed by their obscene profits, they've convinced themselves that advertising is an inescapable law of nature, that "advertising helps the economy function smoothly," "keeps prices low" and generally makes everyone happy.

Introducing any workable direct payment system will pop this bubble. When content providers start seeing any other revenue stream, the ad industry will shit a brick, then swiftly fall over itself finding excuses for why its ads suddenly need to be much less aggressive, and much more tightly vetted for safety. That's the logic of self-interest, the only logic they understand.

Codysydney:"And as for El Reg, I would be a supporter and turn the ads on, but the first day I did that I got an autoplay video about NOTHING AT ALL from IBM in the middle of a story. So ABP went straight back on."

I won't allow ads on my (my!) system, as long as a single piece of malware has been delivered that way in the preceding decade.

However, as soon as The Reg starts supporting Flattr or Flattr Plus, they'll start seeing revenue from me. I can't imagine why they haven't already done it. (Unless maybe it violates their deal with some of the ad providers they use.) I'll support these mechanisms not just because I value the content here, but more importantly because Introducing any sort of direct user support into the ecosystem will put the fear of god into the ad companies. (Who currently think they are the Gods of the Internet.)

Re: Surely you don't believe the "security" excuse?

EFI isn't the same thing as Secure Boot. As to whose idea it was... hard to tell, given how closely MS and Intel work together. Both EFI and Secure Boot probably emerged from some joint committee process.

Re: RE: This is refreshing to hear.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken:"What we have now is basically 1960ies stuff on speed, and a lot shinier, but still nothing revolutionary different from what Johnny von Neumann* dreamt up** in the late 1940ies."

Re: It's not all bad

Re: Deja Vu

Recent NetMarketshare.com stats, based on what's actually being used online:

* Windows 10 = 19%

* Windows 8.x = 10.5%

* Windows XP = 10%

* Windows 7 = 49%

The Windows XP segment isn't going to shrink very quickly. It clearly consists of users (or applications) that are happy as they are.

Windows 7 still has more (active) users than all other versions combined. These people have relatively new PCs, but didn't want Windows 10 when it was free. They're now going to make a shift only when a new PC purchase can't be postponed any longer - and even then, are likely to reinstall Win7, or jump to Linux.

The Windows 8 holdouts are even more interesting. If Windows 10 couldn't woo them, what will?

Hitting almost 20% in one year is pretty good going for Windows 10, but it's hard to paint it as a resounding victory.

OS Futures

Doctor Syntax:"At some point H/W manufacturers may either move to Chromebooks or the like or get together to fund development of an alternative OS, maybe based on Linux, BSD or possibly ReactOS which they can control."

I've tried Chrome, and it probably has its place. But I think Android N may be an even stronger contender. I'm sure there's a reason Google has been adding desktop features like windowing and mouse support. Many consumers would probably like the idea of running the same OS - and apps - on their desktop as they do on their phone or tablet.

This is probably the 'nightmare scenario' that Microsoft tried to forestall with its awkward Continuum feature. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier for Google to make Android run comfortably on generic PC hardware, than for Microsoft to make Windows run on its own smartphone hardware. Still worse (for MS), Google can bring along its entire base of existing Android apps, while Microsoft could only make the stunt work for a tiny number of new-fangled UWP apps.

Likely future: for casual users, Windows Home gives way to Android N; for power users, Windows Pro is replaced by GNU/Linux. PC games shift to SteamOS, and the console world remains divided, with Steam Machines making gradual inroads as the economics of the open, generic PC architecture erode the cost advantage of proprietary games boxes.

Re: Windows 10 a hopeless muddle

TonyJ:" I do sometimes use it for gaming and as it has a DX12 card in it, I can use this feature which isn't available on any other OS."

After a full year of availability, there isn't even a handful of major game releases for DX12. I've yet to run into any game, major or indie, that I can't play just fine on Windows 7. I'm also playing more and more games on Linux, courtesy of Steam.

So what use are you actually getting from this "feature" of Windows 10, that "isn't available in any other OS"?

Re: Pacman & cancer

Hstubbe:"I've been trying to get hibernate to work with windows for weeks now. Ms is giving *no* support at all, nlames the hw vendor. Hw vendor blames ms."

I've lost count of the number of MS support threads I've seen marked "Resolved" by the administrator - but which have continued to accumulate pages of comments, sometimes for years, from users who say the MS fix hasn't worked. In many cases, the recommended fix boils down to some generic boilerplate, like "reinstall Windows," or "try turning your computer off and then on again."

Re: Just can't fathom what Microsoft is trying to do

I agree with your diagnosis, but I'm not sure firing Satya is a cure. Most of what he's doing was started by Ballmer.

The real problem is that without a strong Gates in charge, whoever runs Microsoft is at the mercy of the quarterly stock report. Everything MS does these days is meant to look brilliant in the short term, because the long term simply doesn't matter to a CEO who'll be gone and spending his bonuses before it starts to matter.

A secondary problem is that Microsoft has fired (or otherwise lost) a lot of its best, long-time people over the past decade or so. (I used to visit the Redmond 'campus' regularly. Up till the early 2000s, even their marketing dweebs spoke fluent C code. The current crop can't speak coherently about product features, let alone the underlying technologies.) The corporate culture has become fragmented, and there's longer any ability to execute the increasingly complex strategies that managers like Satya dream up.

In short, Microsoft has become just another soul-less, amoral corporation - but, luckily, also an incompetent one.

Re: I don't block ads

I agree about scripts - there's no way I'm giving some unknown organization out in cyberspace permission to run software programs on my system. Calling them 'scripts' may sound nice and friendly, but they can still forget it.

But the fundamental problem with ads is that 99% of sites don't want to deal with them. They just sign up for a service, and the money comes rolling in. They don't see the ads, and in fact can't check them even if they wanted to - because they're 'personalized,' no two people will see the same ones.

The change has to come at the ad-industry level. And they won't change until they get scared that the goose is about to stop laying those platinum eggs.

Re: "The ad networks see no percentage in ensuring clean ads"

Pascal Monett:"Someday someone will come up with the concept of Trusted Ads, and that one will take the market."

Ad Block Plus has had a 'Trusted Ads' system for some years, under that very name. It's referred to by the ad industry as "extortion," and by disgruntled users as a "sell-out."

The truth lies somewhere between. It's a worthwhile move, but only a very early one. When the number of Web surfers using ad blockers rises from its current 10-30% to, say, 50-70%, the ad industry will shit a brick and suddenly fall all over itself to clean up its act. Until then, it has minimal incentive to police the vast amount of content it serves every nanosecond, through a system that includes dozens of companies.

Check this 'infographic' - if you haven't seen it before, it will scare the pants off you. It shows what happens every single time someone looks at a Web ad:

Re: One weird trick...

I expect that all online activities will need to run in VMs pretty soon. But I'm also hearing about attacks that can actually break out of today's more common VM prisons. Doesn't look like there's going to be any easy exit from this arms race.

Re: "I can't pay $12/month for every one of them"

A far better solution than Blendie would be Flattr, or Flattr Plus, which allow users to set their own total budget, which is then split automatically among the sites they use most. The existing Flattr (co-founded by one of the creators of the Pirate Bay) lets readers use a button on each participating site, in order to allocate funds. Flattr Plus is in development, a partnership with Adblock Plus, and allocates funds automatically (using analysis performed on the user's system).

The nicest thing about Flattr is that 90% of the money goes to the site, the remaining 10% combining Flattr's profit and any fees to payment processors. The 30% 'Apple tax' rate is far too high for this sort of service. Apple operates a store, whereas here we're talking about simply doing a bit of back-end accounting for sites run by independent content providers.

There are obvious concerns with privacy, but I think Flattr may have the commitment to do it as well as it needs. Better yet, if this type of model catches on, I can't see any reason there couldn't be many overlapping monetization schemes operating simultaneously, offering different degrees of privacy - and, perhaps, setting different types of profit-sharing.

If nothing else, even moderate success of alternative monetization schemes - including Flattr, Blendie, Patreon, or whatever - would create a strong restraint on the activities of Web advertisers.

Re: Would you really want to take the chance?

If people want to vote "strategically," they should at least try to apply some real strategy, and not merely short-term tactics.

In each US election, the choices have gotten worse and worse. The way to break that cycle is to create a surge in the popular vote for third-party candidates like Stein. Even if they don't win, it will build public confidence, and finally put one of them in position to take the next election.

People need to vote out of hope, out of conviction, for the candidate they really want. It's the only way. Otherwise, in four years' time, a new Trump will be offered as "the lesser of two evils," up against someone even worse. The cycle only ends when the voters decide to think ahead. Fearlessly.

On the other hand...

Re: Just another distraction.

cray74:"No food is so thoroughly tested as GMOs before they enter the food supply..."

Ah, that old straw-man argument. How quaint.

Of course, the real concern with GMO foods is not that they're individually toxic to humans. It's that they're allowing corporations, motivated solely by short-term profit, to manipulate the most vital part of our biosphere in drastic, unprecedented and poorly-understood ways.

We've already seen possible negative results, as weeds become increasingly resistant to Monsanto's Roundup. We've also seen entirely inadequate justification for the whole GMO approach, as evidence continues to mount that smaller-scale, lower-tech farming could probably feed the world more effectively, with less risk of a substantial ecosystem collapse (as we've seen in the bee populations).

The impact on our environment has not been "thoroughly tested." In fact, it's hard to imagine a really thorough test that wouldn't take many decades, given the complexity of the problem. In any case, when the entire testing system is massively controlled by vested interests, a little skepticism isn't unwarranted.

"And she puts an anti-nuclear plank in her campaign platform."

And, with Fukushima still spewing radioactive waste into the Pacific ecosystem, that's a bad thing? While truly safe nuclear power seems theoretically possible, it's impossible to pretend that the nuclear power we now have - a system, again, regulated directly by those who profit from it - is even remotely safe. Most reactors are operating beyond their original design lifetime. Nuclear fuel is being stored on-site, because we still have no plan whatsoever for long-term disposal of spent fuel that requires constant, active cooling to prevent explosion.

Insurance companies won't touch nuclear projects. Why? Because if the wind had been a bit different, Fukushima would have made Tokyo uninhabitable. As it is, the expense of cleaning up that one mess will probably wipe out any conceivable cost advantage of all nuclear projects so far, worldwide. Just how much more of a warning do we need? At the very least, the regulatory framework needs to be torn down and rebuilt with sane lines of accountability.

What Kind of Journalism is This?

..."foxes are guarding the chicken coop" when it came to vaccines, and that regulatory boards are "routinely packed with corporate lobbyists and CEOs."

"Like any medication, [vaccines] also should be – what shall we say? – approved by a regulatory board that people can trust."

"We make guinea pigs out of whole populations and then we discover how many die. And this is like the paradigm for how public health works in this country and it's outrageous, you know."

This article tries to paint Dr. Jill Stein as some kind of crackpot anti-vaxxer, but the only direct quotes it offers, like those above, utterly fail to support this contention.

Expressing skepticism about the corporate-controlled mechanisms of public health is a very, very long way from saying that kids shouldn't be vaccinated. Expressing concern about very young kids spending too many hours in front of computer screens, instead of running around the schoolyard, is not necessarily a disparagement of the wonders of the Internet. When we know beyond any doubt that the medical system is being subjected to unprecedented corporate influence, suggesting extra vigilance is not paranoia.

I've watched many hours of Jill Stein's presentations and interviews. I've never heard her say anything that wasn't rational and based on well-accepted facts. Her platform is based on concerns that are simply not open to question any more, though they might have been labeled 'conspiracy theories' a few years ago.

Basically, Dr. Stein wants to slash the vast US military budget - clearly a sensible move, given that it has long exceeded that of all other countries combined - and put the money to work creating a 'green new deal' that would rebuild the decimated US middle class while weaning the US off of fossil fuels. On the evolutionary scale, that puts her about 100 million years ahead of war-mongering Wall Street employee Shillary, or fear-mongering fascist Trump - in fact, a very long way ahead of most candidates for most leadership posts in most countries around the world.

Cherry-picking and misinterpreting a few chance comments is not only shoddy journalism, it's a low sort of character assassination - in this case targeting a person who clearly doesn't deserve it. If you want to disagree with a candidate, do it on the issues, and leave the gossip-mongering to Fox News. I thought the Register was better than this.

Re: You missed a lot

Not sure why I'm getting thumbs down but here is another great feature:

* Continuum: wirelessly project a continuum-compatible Windows Phone on the screen of a PC and use its keyboard and mouse. Really useful for urgent tasks/emails without messing with the computer of a host.

I gave this a thumbs-down because: a) like 97% of the world, I don't have a Windows Phone and never plan to get one; and b) even if I did have a Windows Phone, I wouldn't use this feature. In fact, I'd much prefer a mobile device that would simply attach as storage via USB, but Microsoft doesn't like to make things that simple. So Continuum is more of an 'antifeature,' for me.

Many Windows 10 'features' are like that. They're absolutely terrific... as long as you look at them through Microsoft-tinted glasses. If you don't buy into the complete package, they're painful.

I've got three systems on Mint, and I've never read a Man file. I have, however, "spent hours searching the net" trying to fix all sorts of Windows issues over the years.

These kinds of criticisms are way out of date. Linux today has different kinds of issues than Windows, but I'd say on balance it's actually a little easier to support - mainly because it lacks 'features' that deliberately try to get in your way. (Like activation, for a start.)